Knights of Honor
by firehelm
Summary: During the final battle with Gilgamesh, Archer did not assist Shirou. As a result, both Shirou and the King of Heros were transported to another realm. A realm where the Age of the Gods had not ended. By chance, Shirou becomes the Eighth Campione. What is he going to do in this world?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Fate/Stay Night or Campione! Those belong to their respective owners.

**Summary: **During the final battle with Gilgamesh, Archer did not assist Shirou. As a result, both Shirou and the King of Heros were transported to another realm. A realm where the Age of the Gods had not ended. By chance, Shirou becomes the Eighth Campione. What is he going to do in this world?

**A/N- **Alright guys. After I read God-Slaying Blade Works by Marcus Galen Sands (you should it btw its really good) I got this idea. You could say that I was inspired to write this fic. :) This is my first fic, ever. Never typed up any other fic before. So please be gentle in your reviews! 3 Now on to the story!

**Chapter 1: End of a King, Birth of a Slayer. **

I could not give up.

Letting Gilgamesh win would mean the end to everything that I cared about.

Tohsaka would perish. Every inhabitant of Fuyuki city would perish. Even lands across the oceans would not be safe from Gilgamesh.

Thus I gave my rage free reign, and used everything I could to stop him.

* * *

Swords.

Swords were flying. Swords of every variety, culture, and design collided in shrill screeches of metal rending and bending. The sheer amount of speed and force of the collisions displaced the air around the impact points.

This battle is like nothing ever seen before. And nothing like it would ever be seen again in this world.

* * *

Breathing was a chore. It was painful to suck in even slightly. Each inhalation came with a spasm of pain. I was not getting enough oxygen.

I stood amongst countless blades. All of which were stolen from the one person I was trying to defeat. My head hurt. My circuits burned. My blood was on fire. Cuts and bruises littered my body. But those wounds were merely superficial. Compared to the damage that my magic circuits had sustained, every other wound was negligible. For now.

Gilgamesh didn't look any better. His once flat and silky blond hair was now sullied with grime, sweat, and blood. Not my blood, his blood.

We both managed to catch our breaths at the same time. We glared at each other with equal amounts of hate.

Trembling from exhaustion, both of us summoned our final swords.

"Trace on..." I traced the Golden Sword of Assured Victory_,_ Caliburn, and charged.

"You scum, how dare you force me into such a state. You will pay with your life!"

Gilgamesh chose the one most powerful sword in his entire armory, Ea: The Sword of Rupture. I slashed at him before he could even start to rotate the individual parts that made up his blade. In a fountain of red, his arm was cut off. Ea dematerialized and Gilgamesh fell back and yelled in agony.

"ARRRRRRRRRGHHH!"

Lifting Caliburn high above my head, I swung down intent on landing the finishing blow. But my blow was halted by a tiny speck of darkness which appeared on the stump where Gilgamesh's arm used to connect. The speck expanded within milliseconds.

"What is this?! Is Angra Mainyu trying to devour me?! That cannot happen! I am the King!"

Space distorted around it with such force that Gilgamesh was fully engulfed. My reality marble, Unlimited Blade Works, soon followed like a carpet being pulled out from beneath my feet. Floating not even 3 meters in front of me, was a vortex of supreme suction. It had enough power to suck in my projected Reality marble, yet it was not sucking in anything else. Perhaps it was controlled by the influence of Gaia, and would only suck in those that should not exist in this realm: Gilgamesh and my Marble. The unholy vibe I got from the vortex didn't matter, It helped me in my goal. It was finally over. I stood up straight and relaxed my posture.

"At last…*gasp* Gilgamesh is gone…" I managed between breaths. The sphere of vile darkness started to shrink and before long it was about the size of a fist. I turned around and tried to locate Tohsaka.

* * *

Before Shirou could even take two steps, a chain shot out of the hole in space and wrapped itself tightly around Shirou's left arm. _'How is that even possible?!'_ Struggling as much as he could against the pull of the chain, Shirou attempted to shake it off, but it was futile.

"GAHAHAHA!" His maniacal laughter could be heard from the inside of the darkness. "You! If I must perish, I will not perish alone. You will die with meee!"

In another reality, Shirou would have acquired the help of the counter-guardian, but sadly in this one, the guardian did not appear. The chain tightened, and dragged Shirou along the stony ground. Shirou desperately looked for anything he could grab onto. Nothing. He could not just trace a sword either, since the chain that bound his arm was not just any chain. It was Enkidu, the Chain of Heaven. Which had the ability to suppress any divinity and by extension, any form of magical energy.

Seconds passed. Every second Shirou was dragged closer and closer to the break in space. Seconds that Shirou spent panicking and trying to halt his approach to the void. Inevitably, after doing what he could, Shirou came face to face with it. His arm was already halfway inside, and soon enough he was swallowed.

* * *

**[Location: Netherworld]**

Shirou awoke in an area full of white, gray, and black. It was an eerie feeling, yet not totally unfamiliar. Shirou couldn't remember where he had seen it before though. Mist was floating on the ground that did not seem to dissipate even if one fanned it away. It was a world that looked painted. It had no color, no life, and no movement.

"Am I dead?" Shirou said aloud, not expecting someone to reply.

"You should be by all means young lad. Tell me, how are you still alive? Are you one of the kings?" Questioned a voice coming from directly behind Shirou.

Startled, Shirou jumped back and reflexively traced Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands. There in front of him, was a rather plump old man. He was wearing a white robe of some sort that was open down the middle. He kept his hair scruffy and looked like he could use a comb. And a shaver for his brown beard. He had a necklace that had beads embedded at regular intervals. Overall, he looked to be a rather mellow type of man. So Shirou took a chance and responded.

"Um pardon me...but where am I?" Shirou inquired not letting up his guard the slightest.

"You mean to tell me that you do not even realize where you are?" Responded the old man incredulously. His eyebrows shot up a couple centimeters.

"Yes...Oh... I am sorry for not introducing myself, my name is Emiya Shirou. Can I know yours?" Shirou stated as he relaxed his guard now that he knew he could continue on a civil conversation. Big mistake.

As if on cue, dozens of swords launched out from his left side. Shirou widened his eyes for the split second, but reacted far faster than a normal human could ever accomplish. _'Thank god I still had my reinforcement'_ thought Shirou as he backpedaled to a safe distance away from the bush that the blades originated from.

Gilgamesh stepped out. Above his self were multiple glowing ripples in the fabric of space. Weapons one by one slowly came out of the individual ripples.

Shirou clenched his teeth. _'There is a civilian right there! I need to bring this fight away from him, but how?' _Never taking his eyes off Gilgamesh, Shirou plotted his plan of action. He charged with his limbs fully reinforced. It seemed to take much more energy than normal to reinforce his limbs, but he paid it no mind as of that instant. His full focus was in trying to prevent the old man from getting caught up in the inevitable battle.

Dashing at a speed comparable to a cheetah, Shirou reached Gilgamesh within a blink of the eye. He had to deflect many blades along the way. Many of them were already copied into his Reality Marble, but many were also new swords to Shirou. Nevertheless, they were soon copied on sight. Looking into Gilgamesh's red eyes for but a split second. Golden-brown met red.

He was in front of Gilgamesh with Kanshou and Bakuya held in his left and right hands respectively. Shirou stabbed Bakuya towards Gilgamesh's heart, but was deflected by Merodach, The Original Sin. How very fitting.

Not letting up in his full frontal, Shirou slashed Kanshou across his chest. Red burst forth once more from Gilgamesh. It seemed that by dual wielding blades, Shirou had a major advantage against Gilgamesh who only had one arm. As an added bonus, by attacking Gilgamesh up close and personal, he could not utilize his Gate of Babylon lest he risk hitting himself. Shirou expected as much. Since Gilgamesh was so overconfident, he never bothered to learn any sword skills and just resorted to either Ea or his Gate of Babylon to overwhelm his foes with sheer unstoppable power. Now with Ea being cut off, literally, with his arm. He could only use his Gate of Babylon. But that was also proving to be no problem for Shirou. He had effectively sealed off that Noble Phantasm as well.

Slowly but surely, Shirou led them away from the old man's hut. As a flurry of black and white, Shirou's blades haphazardly slashed, sliced, and stabbed at Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh could not even retaliate since he was completely on the defensive, blocking only the most fatal of blows with his Merodach. Cuts appeared all over Gilgamesh's body. Within moments, Gilgamesh's appearance could be likened to that of an zebra. Except that instead of black and white stripes, he had large, deep red gashes that continuously flowed blood.

Shirou was out of breath. Gilgamesh did not even look like he should be standing.

"You mongrel…*gasp* How dare you do this to the king…*gasp*" Despite his pitiful appearance, Gilgamesh could certainly put up a tough front.

"Gilgamesh…*gasp* prepare to die…." Shirou let the married blades dissipate. Shirou could not figure out why he was so tired. He had only been forced into the fight mere moments ago and yet he was already out of breath. Some minor reinforcing and tracing one pair of the twin daos should not have exhausted him that quickly. _'Why am I so damn tired? This doesn't make any sense! I need to end this fight soon. Before I die from exhaustion' _Resolving himself to at least completely obliterating Gilgamesh before he dies, Shirou traced his final weapon using much of the prana he had left.

" _**I**__ a__**m t**__h__**e**__ b__**o**__ne o__**f my**__ sw__**ord**__."_

An outline of the blade appeared in his hands.

"_Ste__**el is m**__y b__**ody an**__d fire__** is m**__y bl__**o**__od."_

Light started gathering to fill the handle of the blade.

"_I __**h**__av__**e crea**__ted__** over a**__ t__**housan**__d bl__**a**__des."_

More and more light gathered into the handle.

"_**Unaware**__ of lo__**s**__s, N__**or aware**__ of g__**a**__i__**n**__."_

The handle was fully formed. It was a cylindrical shape of royal blue. The hilt was that of pure gold, with a design of the same blue as the blue that made up the handle.

"_**Wi**__t__**hst**__o__**od**__ pa__**i**__n __**to create**__ wea__**po**__n__**s**__, __**waiting for one's**__ arr__**iv**__al."_

The actual blade of the sword started to form next. From the base of the hilt to the tip of the edge, enough light gathered and concentrated so as to give the blade form.

"_I __**ha**__ve no r__**egrets**__. T__**h**__is__** is**__ t__**h**__e o__**n**__ly__** path.**__"_

In a bright flash, the weapon that appeared in Shirou's hands was the Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur. It was majestic in its own right, but could not be called beautiful. Since the word "beautiful" does not even comprehend the full scale of this blade. It is instead, sacred. It glowed with a dim luminescence. A sword of the Faeries. Despite it being a divine construction, Shirou had managed to trace it only because of one reason. Avalon. The sheathe of King Arthur had been fused with his body and soul for a decade. Thus, to the blade, It is being handled by its sheathe. Shirou could not be classified as a mere human anymore.

"It is the end for you Gilgamesh, you will be slain by this sword. The sword of the King you could not have." Shirou got into the standard zweihander stance to ready its Noble Phantasm ability.

Shirou lifted the sword above his head and gathered his remaining prana into the blade. _'More! It needs more power!' _Shirou could feel the blade taking away more and more of his prana. The blade gathered more and more light. By that point, it shone through vast areas of the netherworld, drawing the attention of the select few who resided there.

"EX-"

"NO! I will not die this way!" Gilgamesh roared as he opened up his Gate of Babylon. Behind him, a vertical sea of golden ripples materialized into existence. The sheer number of blades that escaped his vault was overwhelming to say the least. "A lot" would be the understatement of the century. In the face of this barrage, even Heracles, with his [Mad Enhancement], would back down in fear.

Yet, in the face of all these weapons of lore, Shirou did not back down.

"-CALIBUHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Shirou unleashed Excalibur upon Gilgamesh.

The explosion of energy and light illuminated the netherworld in gold. The beam shot true even through the horde of noble phantasms. As a anti-fortress Noble Phantasm, Excalibur could only be matched by Ea. Therefore, none of Noble Phantasms that were currently coming at him could overcome an Excaliblast. The only weapon that Gilgamesh _had _that could counter Excalibur is Ea. Unfortunately for Gilgamesh, he had lost the ability to use that blade when he lost his arm.

The beam descended upon Gilgamesh in moments. He was engulfed entirely by it. Nothing was spared in the path of the blast. Flesh broke down into molecules. Molecules broke down into atoms. The sheer amount of energy used to power that attack had literally and effectively been wiped Gilgamesh completely off the face of the world. After accomplishing its sole purpose, the energy holding the blast together in a tight beam destabilized and it exploded with the force of a fusion bomb. A pillar of light was all that remained of the light energy, and it was rapidly floating away.

The force was something to be reckoned with. The wind pressure from the backlash caused Shirou to tumble back across the ground. The sound of the explosion could be defined as that of thousands of bombs going off at the same time. Not that Shirou could comprehend what happened afterwards anyways since he used up his remaining life-force in that final maneuver. Normally, a traced copy of Excalibur wouldn't be that powerful, but since an entity that is defined as 'sword' had used his life's energy to power it, the difference was inconsequential. Shirou Emiya had effectively just killed himself. All in order to end this heretical god.

* * *

**[Location: Pandora's Lair]**

Shirou woke up for perhaps the second time in the same day. And again he was lying on his back in a world of white. Sitting up, Shirou blinked several times to clear his vision.

"This must be the root." Shirou concluded.

"_**What's that?" **_A high pitched voice spoke behind Shirou.

Flinching, Shirou turned around and was taken back by what, or who he saw. It was a girl. A girl who looked no older than he was. Most likely somewhere around the age of 11 or 12. She had on a white one piece dress with little petite shoes of the same color. Her hair had been done up in a double side pony-tail that went down to her knees. It sorta reminded Shirou of Tohsaka…

Strangest of all, were her ears. Not the spherical earrings, but rather the ears themselves. They were pointed. Like an elf's ears.

"_**Hello! My name is Pandora!"**_ Greeted the newly dubbed, 'Pandora.' _**"And you just died!"**_

Great way to start my morning.

**End Chapter 1**

**A/N- **I know that this ending is pretty bad. I just don't know how to end a chapter :\ BTW please review! Criticisms and suggestions are good. I want to learn how to write better fics too. :) Thank you for reading. Next chapter should be posted on October 7th, 2013.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- **Waooooo! So many reviews on the first day of publishing my story! xD Thank you all! I never actually expected this much! So as thanks, I uploaded this chapter 2 days before schedule! I also had to edit my friend's story, "Menace to Olympus," so it was a busy day. hahaha

Furthermore, I'm sorry guys! I read the reviews and **Kreyn** pointed out a flaw in my logic. (Thankyou!) They pointed out that Shirou couldn't hae known it was the netherworld yet. When I reread my first chapter, I was flabbergasted at such a silly mistake. *sigh It think that since I had already planned out a lot of my story, I didn't even realize that Shirou hadn't known it was the netherworld at the time. I guess I got jumbled between chapter 1 and 2. :O I am sorry for any confusion.

Several mentioned Susanoo in the reviews. I have a plan with him. Don't worry. Later on in my story, he will play a role.

**Koryandrs, suplexedatrain, Dragonskyt, GeneralStargate-** Thanks for the compliments! Motivates me to write faster!

**Piterio**- Yeah! I read that fic! Don't worry if you think I might go along the same path. Because I'm not. xD

**Kreyn**- Thanks for reviewing! And for the comment on Gilgamesh, I thought that since he wasn't explained on any of the happenings, he wouldn't have known he became a god. :\ He just felt a slight power boost. But he didn't pay much mind to it since he was much more angry at Shirou for cutting off his arm at the time.

**Kratos Pendragon**- Wow! you have a lot of questions. I will answer some now and some will be revealed in this chapter. Some, you will have to wait and see. ^_^ Ok for the first question. I chose Gate of Babylon since no other fic has used it yet( to my current knowledge). Ea is a completely different authority, as well as Chains of Enkidu. I didn't use those since those are major rulebreakers (not the sword). But don't worry, I put limitations on his Gate of Babylon so he won't just fling thousands of noble phantasms to kill gods. ;P Now next question. Yes, Shirou can use UBW. I chose to use UBW for a reason you know, and now as a campione, he also has enough prana to sustain it for much longer. But he won't use it that much. It IS his trump card after all. There are pairings, but I haven't solidified a "true" pairing. I might make a poll later on. Fate characters might make an appearance in this world. Shirou will fight a several gods and more!(hint hint) For your last question, Shirou won't be able to learn other forms of magic. He is super specialized on swords:)

**Jouaint-** I actually thought about your idea for like half an hour to imagine what would happen with that authority. It is an excellent idea. But Shirou kinda...really...super hates Gilgamesh and I don't think he would be grateful for an authority that makes him exactly like Gilgamesh. :\ Your idea actually made a lot of sense. It could apply to another god's authority that I am thinking of doing. Not to sure yet. I will definately save this authority though. :)

**Dp11-** Susanoo will play a part later. As for him not taking any action, you'll just have to wait and see. :) I have a somewhat reasonable explanation as of right now. But I won't tell yet.

**the DragonBard, Dp11-** haha nice of you guys to assume I am making a harem. Idk how that will turn out. But it is a possibility. I am probably going to need professional help to write something like that though. xP

**[Small Spoilers]**

Ok, this is mainly a battle. Sorry in advance! . Its still in the early stages and I need to set up something for future chapters and this was a good place for it. So I hope you guys forgive me for two consecutive battle chapters. But don't worry! Chapter 3 doesn't have any battles, I think. Depends on how much I type. :)

Thanks for all the favs and reviews! Love you all! 3 3 3 3

**On to the story!**

**Chapter 2: The Goddess of Youth**

**[Location: Pandora's Lair]**

Shirou expected as much. It was no surprise to him that he had died to kill Gilgamesh. The environment of that area was sapping his prana somehow. And he also had to use his life force to trace and use Excalibur since it was not a weapon that could be used with his meager amounts of prana. The end result: He died.

"_**Stop staring." **_That snapped Shirou out of his thoughts.

"Oh sorry...I was just thinking about things...where am I?" Shirou gestured towards the all white environment.

"_**In the Netherworld!"**_ She sure had a bubbly personality.

'_This is weird. According to everything that the magus association had said, when one dies they will go to the root of all things, Akasha. But then...why am I here? What is this Netherworld?' _For Shirou, this was a situation that he just could not comprehend.

Her expression turned serious.

"_**The black art that Epimetheus and I left behind." **_She continued, not giving me time to think, _**"The sacred birth of an illegitimate child, shrouded in darkness, born of a fool and a witch."**_

Pandora looks at me, all of her bubbliness from before was gone. Replaced with a serious face that spoke of the severity of the situation.

"_**A secret rite of usurpation, only possible through the sacrifice of a god. It is a gift from the heavens."**_

"...Can you please elaborate? I don't understand…" Shirou looked to the ground, feeling inadequate in his knowledge and ability to read situations. To top it off, it was child that was telling him this. Shirou was asking a child! Not that he knew the truth, of course.

"_**To put it simply, Sacrificing your life to slay Gilgamesh had succeeded. And you are reborn as-"**_

"**Herakles?!" **Our conversation was interrupted.

* * *

**(? POV) [Location: Plane of gods] **- **A while before Pandora and Shirou's talk.**

I can sense it. It is peculiar. It feels like my husband, yet it does not. It is mixed with all sorts of other scents.

'_My husband...oh how I long to see him again…'_

He is not moving... He surely would have sensed my location by now. He is one of the warrior gods, there should be nothing that could have defeated him easily. Yet, something in my subconscious state told me otherwise. I started to worry.

I waited and waited in my lair for him to come. He did not seem to be moving. I should go look for him. NO, I must look for him!

I must find him! It doesn't matter whether or not I become Heretic or not, I will get my husband back.

With that, I phased out of the plane of gods and flew down to the netherworld.

I materialized in a gray plain. I knew that I had become a heretic god the moment I had stepped out of my legend. But the sacrifice was meaningless in this realm. In exchange for becoming heretic, I could look for my beloved Herakles. _'And it isn't like there are any god-slayers in this realm.'_

Resolving myself with a goal, I started to move. Past the trees and past the time-frozen rivers, I ran.

I reached the top of a mountainous region and expanded my senses to narrow down the source of my husband's presence. _'Hm….he is quite far from here...to the north west….close enough...'_

I had found it without difficulty. I turned towards the location and was taken back by what I saw. There far to the north west, was the ever consuming mist that symbolized Pandora's lair. Has he fallen into Pandora's lair? What fortune. Pandora won't stop me from finding my husband! She won't stop me. She CAN'T stop me. I will get him back. It has been too long since I last saw him.

"Don't worry honey, I am coming to get you." Giggled this god uncharacteristically.

* * *

**(With ?) [Location: Netherworld]**

A beauty. It was a goddess of immense beauty. Like all goddesses, this goddess looked young. She looked to be in the late teens to early 20s. She had long flowing brunette hair that reached her waist. With every step her hair wavered and glistened despite the netherworld not even having a sun. Below her bangs were dark-brown, almond shaped eyes. She wore a white toga that covered only her right shoulder that fluttered behind her as she walked.

Eventually, she came upon Pandora's boundary. From where she just came, was a vast expanse of forestry and greens( more like grays in the netherworld). Up ahead of her, Pandora's residence, was a world of pure white. The difference was like taking a chunk of the Amazon and attaching it to Antarctica. The contrast was...extremely noticeable.

She had just arrived at the most difficult part. Breaking through the mist barrier. A super dense cloud of completely immovable mist obscures vision and the other senses. She could not tell where her husband's exact location is. All she knew was that his scent was concealed deep within this mist.

The mist was like a deathtrap. Walking into is can easily be avoided or easily achieved. The most difficult part, was finding your way in it. Once a heretic god had walked into the mist by accident. That god was never seen again.

'_I can't give up now. I will not stop until I am reunited with Herakles!'_

She walked in.

* * *

Minutes passed. Nothing had changed. It seemed that the farther she went in the more distant Herakle seemed to get. It didn't make any sense!

The heretic goddess kept walking. She started to hear someone talking in the distance with her enhanced hearing. _'Is that Pandora? Maybe she could help me. Yes. This IS her territory after all. It would make sense to ask the owner for something in her domain.'_

As the goddess headed towards Pandora's location, she could feel that Herakles was near. The goddess was filled with new hope. Her Herakles was right there!

Sprinting forward, the goddess approached the clearing. She saw two silhouettes in the mist. One was undoubtedly Pandora, the other was an unknown. _'Maybe it is Herakles!' _the goddess thought.

"**...amesh had succeeded. And you are reborn as-"**

"**Herakles?!" **The goddess stumbled into the clearing.

* * *

**[Location: Pandora's Lair]**

Shirou and Pandora turned their heads towards the source of the outburst. To their surprise they find a woman. Before any of the two could respond, the goddess spoke up first.

"**Where is my Herakles?" **The goddess practically demanded.

"**I am sorry Hebe, but I don't remember anyone with the name Herakles in my lair."** Pandora stated while cupping her chin in her hands in ponderment.

"**I know that he is here, because I can sense his essence coming from that boy! Tell me boy, what relation do you have with Herakles?"** She turned to Shirou and glared.

"I am sorry miss. I have no idea what you are talking about." Shirou deadpanned.

"**Then I shall me elaborate. I am looking for my husband, Herakles, a son of Zeus."**

'_Uh oh, that sounds familiar now. She can't be talking about the same Herakles from the Fifth Holy Grail War. Can she? I better explain it to her nice and easy.'_

"Ok miss...first calm down." She is calm. Good. "Now, do not interrupt me as I tell you this." The goddess nods once. "Um...how do I phrase this? uh….ok. Herakles was killed."

Silence. The woman blinked once. She blinked twice. On the third time, her eyelids remained closed for a couple seconds before they reopened with extreme hostility flaring in the brown orbs. Her killing intent was practically oozing out from her!

"Ummmm. Hebe? Pandora, help?" Shirou pleaded as he backed away from the raging goddess.

"**Hmm…." **Pandora was still trying to remember anyone with the name Herakles in her home.

'_Oh noes...I kill Gilgamesh and die. And now I am about to enter another fight?! I don't want to die again! Ok...relax Shirou.' _Shirou tried to push back his panicking thoughts. _'I need to at least try to calm her own. She just heard that her husband is dead. She has a right to become angry. I just need to stay alive long enough to convince her of that fact.' _Sounds like a good plan.

"Trace on." Shirou reinforced his limbs to ready for her attacks. _'Hm? Why do I have so much prana? Its like hundreds of times larger than before! And my body doesn't even feel slightly stiff after so much reinforcing! I would normally be close to the limit by now!'_

Hebe charged. She appeared in front of Shirou in a flash and flung a right hook at him. Shirou blocks but grunts under the immense strength of the goddess.

'_I already reinforced myself past my previous limits, yet she still pushed me back! How does she have so much power?! Its like she is another Herakles!'_

Hebe continues with her flurry of blows. Left hook. Right straight. Low kick. Uppercut. Everything was blocked, but even then Shirou was feeling the effects. His arms started to feel it despite the Campione's physical stamina and reinforcement to top it off.

"Hey!" Shirou blocked a knee to the stomach.

"Listen to m-GAHH!" Shirou was cut off by a right chop to his neck.

"**How!? Why?! Why did you kill Herakles!? Why!? He was such a nice husband! What did he do to deserve that!" **Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. Her mouth was in a permanent snarl, and her eyes...they were the eyes of someone who was ready to die. He had seen those eyes somewhere before. Archer. Her eyes reminded Shirou of Archer, the EMIYA of an alternate future. One that Shirou would never become.

Shirou could not allow Hebe to become a being like Archer was before he had been redeemed.

"Ma'am. Please! listen to reason!"

"**Stop running away so that I can have my revenge!"**

Shirou backpedaled with more vigour. Hebe just jumped after him.

'_I need to put more distance between myself and Pandora. Can't let her get hurt. She's not even paying attention to her surroundings!'_

Shirou led Hebe away from Pandora as best he could. Luckily Hebe was only after him in her rage. She never noticed how far they had gotten. Once Shirou deemed there to be enough distance between their battle and Pandora, Shirou stopped backing away. Shirou caught the next punch that was headed towards his face instead of dodging it this time. He had had enough of running and dodging. It was time to actively try to stop Hebe.

"Listen to me Hebe! The Herakles that I know, is not the one that you know!" Shirou grabbed her other hands and crossed them, thus effectively limiting Hebe's movement.

"**Lies! There is only one Herakles! You are spouting lies to try to keep your life! How dishonorable!" **There was no reasoning with this person. Shirou sweatdropped.

"I am telling the truth! I only met him once and he was crazy!" Obviously Shirou had to have phrased it in one of the worst possible ways.

"**ARGHHHHH! You dare insult my husband!?" **With a sudden burst of strength Hebe broke from Shirou's hold and sent him flying backwards like a human cannonball.

'_Wha?' _Was Shirou's intelligent thought. _'She got even stronger! She is definitely Berserker's wife! How else would she have this kind of mad enhancement?!'_

It is called [Women's Fury] and is one of the most deadly things in the world. It is probably equal to an A+ rank Noble Phantasm at full power. Most females have this ability, but it is rarely activated due to the different conditions of use.

Shirou flew for about 50 yards at breakneck speed, and only then did he start to lose velocity. He started to fall. _'Argh...better reinforce more. This is going to hurt...' _As Shirou impacted the ground he skidded against the white surface until he made a complete stop nearly 100 meters away from the first impact. Hastily climbing up into a battle-ready position, with his knees bent slightly, Shirou looked around for Hebe. She was still standing where they were standing before.

"Ow…..wait... that actually didn't hurt as much as I thought it would." Wide-eyed, Shirou started to pat down his body for any wounds that would inhibit his movement or may put his life in danger. He found several bruises here and there, but overall, he was completely fine. "My reinforcement should not have defended against a fall from that with only this much damage…What is going on?" Shirou asked not expecting an answer quite just yet. He still needed to calm Hebe down.

Shirou reinforced his body more and more, while doing structural grasping on his own body to see its status. _'Yes...I can definitely reinforce my body more than before. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining!' _ When Shirou refocused on where Hebe was earlier, she was gone. He got back into a ready stance in preparation to intercept Hebe's next attacks. Flooding od into his eyes and ears, Shirou tried to sense where she is and predict a a inevitable blow. Since she would not just give up all of a sudden. He heard a fluctuation in wind currents directly behind and to the left of him. Turning around rapidly Shirou prepared to trace Rho Aias to blow the next blow, but next thing he knew, a heavy force impacted on his left side and sent him flying. Again.

"Gahhhh!" Shirou tumbled against the white floor and rolled into several gymnastics maneuver that left him on his feet. "What the heck was that?! It felt like a truck just slammed into me!"

***Grrrrrrrr* **Shirou turned to face a lioness. It had on its face a vicious visage, eyes bloodshot, and teeth bared. It was in pouncing position. Rear up in the air and the head low to the ground.

'_Where the heck did that come from?! Wait...those eyes look kind of familiar.'_ Not having enough time to think, the lioness attacked. It was a super fast, super powerful pounce that only creatures with the superhuman strength of gods could achieve. Not that Shirou knew that, or course.

Shirou dodged and ran away. The lioness gave chase. Shirou, even with his reinforcement could not gain distance from the lioness. She was always a step behind, and would suddenly gain in acceleration each time she pounces. She pounced again, but missed swiping Shirou's head off.

'_It's really trying to kill me!' _Shirou was starting to panic. Looking forward again Shirou was about to put on a new burst of speed, but widened his eyes as he saw who was sitting there!

It was Pandora.

She was still deep in thought. _'How can someone think for so long?!'_ Shirou thought just before realizing his situation. If Shirou dodges, Pandora will get hit. If he doesn't dodge, then he will get hit. If he uses a shield, the lioness could just run around it. The only way left for him, was to attack it. Shirou clicked his tongue in frustration, and turned to face the lioness.

"Trace on." A torrent of od flowed from his magic circuits into forming his most favored swords. The pair of swords that were most familiar to him. The twin chinese falchions that his alternate self favored. The married swords of pitch black and pure white, Kanshou and Bakuya.

The lioness put on a final burst of speed and jumped at Shirou. Shirou threw his blades. Kanshou and Bakuya flew and sliced two deep gashes on the lioness's forearms. Before the great cat could even drop, Shirou appeared underneath it with two newly traced copies of the swords. With a mighty roar Shirou swung his blades in 4 consecutive blows. *Slash *Stab *Slice *Gash.

Blood gushed from the 3 cuts and a hole on the beasts torso area. It fell to the ground but sprung up quickly onto its feet.

"**Grawr…" **The wounds were already healing. Steam was coming out of the wounds as they sealed shut. Shirou could see it clearly with his reinforced sight. The picture was extremely disturbing. Blood was still oozing out of the more...mortal of the wounds, but those rivers were also slowing down. An obvious sign that despite all the fatal wounds, this beast would be able to continue the fight. What's more, is that this beast's eyes showed its hatred for Shirou. For what, Shirou did not realize, but he knew that it the beast was still a threat.

Deciding to finish the cat before it decides to attack Pandora or him again, Shirou traces a final pair of Kanshou and Bakuya, except this time he forcefully added much more prana than the blades could safely hold. Shirou had made the blades _broken_. The blades grew to the size of longswords. The spines of the blades spiked outwards and created swords that were reminiscent of feathers. Shirou's swords looked like wings.

The blades that Shirou had thrown before had finally looped and had come back and stabbed the lioness in the back. Eliciting a growl from it.

While that was happening, Shirou had vanished and appeared in front with his arms crossed and the _broken_ married blades behind him. He slashes at its chest in a downwards X-motion and finishes the combo.

"Crane Wing Three Realm." Shirou stated calmly.

The overedge broken blades shattered on impact and all of the feather-like shards of metal rained down on the lioness. It was not a pretty sight. What was previously a lioness, was now a mound of flesh with spikes littered all over it laying on a pool of its blood.

The lioness didn't move and her eyes had dulled over, but it was actually still breathing despite having one of its lungs punctured by a long black piece from a broken Kanshou.

Convinced that the battle was over, Shirou returned the shards and blades back into prana. Feeling slightly guilty about slaying a beast that had only acted according to its nature, Shirou cautiously headed over to it and went to pay his respects when, all of a sudden, the carcass started to glow and morph into a familiar sight.

* * *

Hebe by all means did not look good. In fact, she looked worse than horrible, and felt even worse than that! All the damage that she received from when she was transformed was not healing. It could only mean one thing, that she had been slain. She had but few moments left in the Netherworld before she would return to her legend and revive after a century.

Lying on her front, Hebe looked up sees the shocked and worried look of the man she had just tried so very hard to kill. _'Why does he look at me like that? I just tried to kill him. What was my reasoning anyway?' _It was only on the brink of death that she had realized that she had been mistaken. Looking back on when she was enraged, she could only remember bits and pieces, but those bits and pieces were enough to draw a conclusion from. Images of Shirou trying to explain in the beginning, images of Shirou stopping her by force when she didn't listen.

The entire time this young man had been trying to stop her. Yet all she did was ignore his attempts at peace and attacked without true justification. She had been blinded by the fury that enveloped her when she heard that her husband died. She had to apologize. She tried to crawl forward but failed to gather enough energy to move. That, and she also had wounds on every inch of her body that weren't healing. Instead of her crawling to Shirou, Shirou had approached much quicker when he saw her try to move.

"Don't move! Your wounds are serious!" By then, Hebe's hearing was already deteriorating. She could barely hear him. It was all just mumbling in the background of all the blood vessels that broke in that final blow.

"Im sorry…" Hebe willed herself to speak, but only got out a faint mumble. A far cry from her powerful godly voice from earlier. Her body's systems were shutting down now.

"No! Don't speak. Save your energy, we need to get you help!" Shirou started to panic. Even though he knew it was futile Shirou called out for help. He is getting desperate. _'Would Avalon work on someone that isn't me or Saber? Need to give it a try at least.' _Shirou closed his eyes to concentrate when he felt his sleeve being pulled. Blinking his eyes back open, Shirou looks down at Hebe. She started to glow. A faint outline of golden particles started to appear on Hebe's form.

"Whats the hell is happening!? Why are you glowing!?" Shirou frantically looked for an answer. He got one, but it came from behind him.

"_**She is about to die, because you slew her."**_ Pandora stated peering over Shirou's shoulder.

"I didn't mean to! I thought it was just a lioness. Not a person!" Shirou despaired as he had just broken one of his ideals, even if it was by accident.

"Its... not…your fault…" Hebe's breathing was getting shallower. Her time of end was soon, very soon.

"_**She is right Shirou. Do not take it upon your conscious for what you just did. You SAVED her. You saved her from her inner demon that had been corrupting her. You even saved me by retaliating against Hebe when she was in her rage."**_Pandora tried to calm Shirou.

"Shirou…I am…sorry for… attacking...I give….you...my..authority." Those were the last words of Hebe as she disappeared little by little as particles of light that were swept away by the wind.

Shirou and Pandora both stared at the location where Hebe had just been. What started as a misunderstanding, had ended up with a death. Shirou closed his eyes in silent prayer.

After a few moments, Shirou reopened them and faced Pandora.

"Sorry...we were interrupted, what were you trying to say earlier?" Shirou tried to lighten the mood.

"_**Oh! I was trying to say that you are reborn as a Campione!" **_Pandora exclaimed while throwing her arms up in the air.

"Huh?" Shirou seriously had no idea what was going on.

* * *

**[Many leagues away from Pandora's lair. Another part of the netherworld. Location: ?] **

"**Hm? This feeling. Is an alien in this world again? It has been many years since the last dimension traveler came here. I think that man's name was Zel- something, he wasn't a god and not necessarily a human either. An amusing man, he only cared for interesting things." **

Stretching out in his plane of space, the old deity moved for the first time in a century.

"**Its been too long. I am getting bored...I know how Zel-something feels now." **The old massive deity pondered. Suddenly his posture changed. Before he had an indolent feel, now it felt like he was excited for something.

"**Kukuku, its been a long time since I've been to the mortal realm. I should go have some fun. Maybe even find that foreigner while I'm playing. kukukuku." **With that, the giant folded the space around himself and vanished, all while chuckling to himself.

**End Chapter 2**

Anyone guess that god at the end? xD Don't worry if you can't. Its supposed to remain a secret for now. He will come later. Many chapters later. :)

You can still try to guess though :P

Also, for those that wanted to know my pairings or even suggest some. I won't be stealing any of the hardcore "Property of Godou" girls. Which means...

Mariya Yuri

Erica Blandelli

Liliana Kranjcar

Ena Seishuuin

...are off limits. Everyone else, godesses, divine ancestors, humans, even campiones is fair game!

For those harem lovers: I don't actually care if Shirou gets a harem. :)

**Be sure to voice your opinions! Also for those that have questions, should I just PM you in the future or write my responses at the top of chapters? **

Get your opinions out! I am always looking for new ideas, criticisms, and compliments! xD You could help me write a better story!

Remember to review! I accept anything!(except flames, those hurt).

See you all next chapter! Heads up: probably 3-5 days later since I have several exams on monday *cries.


	3. Chapter 3 part I: New World

Welp...I messed up? Ok so its not that much of a mess up.

Since several people managed to point it out and convince me that his [Gate] is underpowered. And after they pointed it out, I looked it over and kinda agreed with them. I mean an authority is SUPPOSED to be OP since its godly. LOL So i have replaced it. xD Don't worry though, it barely effects the future plot of the story.

So! I replaced the [Gate]'s statistics with extensive help from Zaralann. LOL BTW if youve already read chptr 3, you dont need to reread it. Its the exact same chapter, excluding the Authorities at the bottom.

I replaced the [Gate] since my previous description was pretty bad...and kinda stupid in some ways. It HAS restrictions. Some of those restrictions( and pros) aren't mentioned explicitly though. So you will need to think about it. xD

Hopefully it will clear up any misunderstandings! And don't credit me for the new Gate. Credit Zaralann.

BTW many have noticed that Hebe's authorities weren't mentioned. The thing is... I haven't decided on the exact ability description. Its a "blessing" type, basically a support type authority.

**Chapter 3: New World**

He had woken up in a hotel bed with no recollection of what happened after he had talked with…who? Shirou just could not remember who he was talking to, but It didn't rank high on his priorities for the time being. He had some stuff to do.

For the past week, Shirou had visited libraries to read up on facts and events that were unique to this world. Shirou had opened his [Gate of Babylon] for the first time to retrieve enough funds for living expenses and other needs that he might have. Desperate times called for desperate measures. If his life wasn't on the line, he would've never opened that gate yet, but life didn't work that way. And besides, the [Gate] was frighteningly useful. He could practically store any non-living item into his [Gate].

He had arrived in this world with no money, no knowledge, and no identity. He was practically an alien to this world. About the only knowledge he had was the very vague description of his kind: a god-slayer.

* * *

**(Flashback)**

"...So you mean to tell me that I am a god-slayer." Shirou stated calmly, even though on the inside his thoughts was running at light speed. The situation just didn't make sense to Shirou. From what he was taught, gods were almighty beings that could not be slain by mere mortals. And yet, Pandora was stating that he had accomplished killing, not one, but two gods within the same day. It was absolutely ludicrous.

"_**Yes! You had died, but you also succeeded in killing a god and thus you are reborn as a god-slayer, a king of kings, a Campione!" **_Pandora sounded awfully cheerful despite the serious conversation.

* * *

**(Flashback End)**

Then he had woken up in a lavish hotel room. No one seemed to know that he resided in that room. He wondered if that was all a dream. The entire Holy Grail war...the last fight with Gilgamesh...It was an encouraging thought. But it was impossible. He had already confirmed that fact when he successfully opened the [Gate]. It confirms his slaying of Gilgamesh.

He had briefly wondered what the security officials thought when they saw a red haired teenager exit the building, since he had never entered in the first place. That should've caused some havoc. Good thing he had moved on to a different hotel the next day. Shirou moved one hotel every day. Sure, it is a major hassle, but it was necessary for Shirou. By now, a government agency could be reviewing the security tapes and might discover that he had walked out from somewhere he didn't belong.

That was all in the past.

Back in the present, Shirou headed toward the front gate to exit the hotel that he had been staying at. He had woken up less than an hour ago and He was heading to the nearest library to research more of this world. But a library could only hold so much. He would need to find a new source preferably with more details about the magical side of this world.

Shirou had a most unusual hair color for someone of japanese descent. It was red, and slightly longer than it was back during the Holy Grail War. He had on a white shirt and a tight leather jacket to defend against the chilly bite of the early morning. As for pants, he wore slim black jeans that provided some protection against the weather. On his left hand, he had a ring on the pointer finger. It was a Noble Phantasm with passive abilities to conceal power. He had stumbled upon it in his [Gate of babylon] that time when he opened it to obtain funds. It consisted of a small teardrop shaped amethyst and a platinum band with runes carved into it.

Sadly though, the ring could not handle the immense amount of power that the magus-turned-Campione had and thus, even though a vast majority of his magic power was sealed away, his prana still gushed out like a broken faucet. Hopefully there weren't any magi or people who could sense magic nearby. He wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible after all.

Shirou had no idea of this world's workings afterall, and he was also alone. He had no Tohsaka to keep him on track. He had no Fuji to take the place of his legal Guardian. He had no permanent residence either! So he had come to the conclusion that he would at least gain some knowledge of the workings of this world. From his research so far, it looked to be not too different than his universe. In fact, it was so similar that it was scary. There is some positives to this. With a Campione's power, could he somehow find a way to get back into his own universe?

That was certainly a longshot. According to Tohsaka, only the Wizard Marshall, Zelretch, had mastered the Second Sorcery: Kaleidoscope. So it was almost impossible, given the infinite amount of different and parallel dimensions, for Zelretch to come onto this one.

As he was walking down the streets towards the library, Shirou noticed that many of the civilians had turned their heads discreetly to look at his hair. He briefly wondered if this was really a different world's Japan, it sure looked like his. But that thought was useless, all the facts proved that he was no longer in his own dimension. Dashing the observation from his mind, Shirou thought about more important topics. It seemed that the age of gods, that had ended 2 millennia ago in Shirou's world, had not ended in this one and thus gods were wreaking havoc. Even though the news only mentioned the gods as "natural disasters" or "terrorist bombings," Shirou knew enough to be able to tell whether or not something logical was happening or not. Seriously... an attack on the Colosseum? By terrorists? Unreasonable, terrorist have no reason to target a historical monument. Shirou had assumed it was a rather irresponsible Campione, but without facts and a reliable information network, he couldn't be sure.

It was about brunch time and Shirou was passing by a local high-school. _'Jounan Academy huh? School sure brings back memories.'_ Shirou stood there at the entrance looking at the school. The thought of school brought back so many nostalgic memories. It was where he had first seen a battle of servants. It was where he had first met Tohsaka Rin. It was where he had fought with Saber. No…Those memories of Shirou's had to be locked away for now. It would do him no good to reminisce and not do anything to find his way back. He needed to find a way back home first and foremost. Clenching his right hand into a fist, Shirou was about to leave when he heard someone shouting at him.

"Hey you! Why aren't you at school? Look at me. Don't try to run away. I know I just saw you turn away from that school." An officer pulled up and interrogated Shirou.

"Ugh…ummmm…." Shirou had no idea what to say. _'I was too careless! What was I doing just standing outside a school!? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! I have no ID in this world! If they bring me to the department to get me checked, they'll find that I have no records at all! I'd be searched and would be quetioned as to why I shouldn't exist and where my real records are. I would be cornered with no reasonable answer to those questions!' _Hastily making up an excuse, Shirou keeled over and pretended to be in pain. "A-Argh! M-My stomach! Officer, believe me, I wanted to go to school...b-but I have this massive stomach ache."

The officer stared straight at Shirou. He blinked. It was by far, the worst excuse he had heard of in history from truant students. Having enough of this farce, the officer grabbed Shirou in the arm and dragged him onto school campus. Shirou could only let himself be dragged lest he drags more attention to himself.

* * *

The officer had dragged him through the school and had stopped at a room once to ask for directions to the principals office. All the students that saw him through the windows being dragged by a civil service worker looked on in confusion. Shirou was definitely going to be the topic of gossip for a while.

"Pardon me Mr. Principal!" The officer did not bother to knock.

There were two people in the room. One was sitting behind a giant mahogany desk with papers stacked on top of it. The other was sitting on one of the three chairs all positioned facing the principal. The was an old man nearing his sixties. the top of his head was clean, it practically reflected sunlight like a mirror. He had a strong look despite there being small traces of age wearing it down. It was the type of veteran look that looked like he could stare at your eyes and know your entire person. He was wearing a gray suit that seemed all too customary for principals in Japan.

The person that was speaking to the principal before we intruded was also in a gray business suit. He was a fairly tall Italian man. Much taller than Shirou was. He had a dirty blond hair that went to his shoulders and looked combed. He had a body reminiscent of the statue of david. His calm demeanor exuded a sense that he had lots of power.

"Pardon the intrusion Mr. Principal, but I have here a truant student who was just about to leave before I caught him and brought him here." The officer stated while gesturing at his prisoner.

"Oh it is no problem." The Italian man spoke. "It looks like we must cut our meeting short today. I will see you next time my good friend." He nodded at the Principal and left while nodding at the officer to acknowledge his presence. He certainly knew how to conduct himself. The moment he saw me though, his eyes widened for but a split second as if he discovered something he had not noticed before.

"On second thought, I had forgotten something that I had to do so I will take a seat here, if I may, Kaieda?"

"Please, Blandelli. It would be an honor." The principal nodded at Blandelli.

'_Woah... The principal talking to the tall man like that. He must be a big shot.'_ Shirou concluded.

"Now, officer, what may I help you with today?" Kaieda stated while interlocking his fingers.

"Thank you Mr. Principal. Sorry for interrupting, but I found this delinquent snooping around at the school gate. If you would kindly take him off my hands, I could get back to patrolling the neighborhood." The officer added with a smile.

"Alright, you may leave. I will handle things here." The principal sighed and motioned to grab a pile of files in the bottom left drawer of his desk. The officer turned around and walked down the hallway they had just come from. He took this time to leave leisurely whistling to himself while he was at it.

Shirou just stood there, pondering whether or not he should just try to run away, or stay and wait to see what happens. "Now then, young man, I do not believe you are a gangster or even delinquent." _'What?' _"Despite your hair color, that would make anybody looking believe that you are part of a gang, I can see that your roots are also red. Which means that you are a natural red head."

Shirou raised his eyebrows. The principal in this school is very observant to small details.

"Your hair is unique enough that I can safely say that you are not a student of this school. Am I right?" The principal continued.

Shirou could only nod up and down.

"Well that leads us to the problem. You look to be about 15, 16 years old, yet you were hanging around outside of Jounan Academy gates, what were you doing? What school do you go to?"

Leave it to the observant principal to ask an awkward question that Shirou did not know how to lie through yet. So why lie? Shirou flat out told the truth.

"I don't go to school."_ 'Because my school is in Fuyuki City which is in another dimension.' _Shirou didn't say the last part out loud though.

Oh well, that was a good enough lie for Shirou. Even though Shirou could not lie even if his life depended on it, he could tell half truths since they technically weren't "lies."

* * *

**(Timeskip- 3 hours)**

Those 3 hours were long and treacherous. The more they asked, the greater the chance that Shirou would let something out. In the end, they worked something out with Blandelli being present. In fact, it was Blandelli that requested something of Shirou.

Shirou was walking out the school. It was approximately lunchtime and all the students were looking at his general direction. It was not unexpected, first he had been dragged in by a cop, and now he was being led out by a very refined and powerful(?) man. People were staring, but none were approaching. Until they left the building.

"Uncle Paolo!?" Shouted a very feminine voice. Up ahead of us was a remarkable spot of golden yellow that headed our way. The girl who had just arrived could be called a beauty. No, the word "beautiful" is too much of an understatement to correctly call the maiden in front of Shirou. He could only stare ahead.

"Erica. Good afternoon, It is a grand surprise to see that you are here." Paolo Blandelli stated with no hint of disapproval, rather, he seemed happy when he had uttered the phrase. Shirou supposed it was his public image that he had to keep up. "And good afternoon to you, Kusanagi Godou. It is a pleasure to be in the presence of the 7th Campione."

Shirou widened my eyes at his words. In his research, he had found traces that had pointed that the youngest Campione who had slayed his first god not too long ago had settled in Japan. Shirou never expected to meet him here or even in these circumstances. _'Hehe...Looks like we could get along. Erica seems to be just like Tohsaka. Perhaps Godou and I could relate.'_ Pondered Shirou while never taking his eyes off the boy.

The 7th Campione had the usual black hair that belonged to most of the Japanese. He had a slightly tanned skin tone that meant either he had a natural tanned skin tone or he usually plays a sport. Examining his muscles, Shirou concluded that it was the latter.

Erica walked up to Paolo and greeted him with the bare minimum of formalities. Possibly due to her status as his niece. Erica then turned to Shirou.

"Who are you?" The change in demeanor when dealing with her uncle and with me was everything but unnoticeable. He was going to respond but a limo pulled up onto the road just directly outside the gate.

"Come Shirou, we must get going." Paolo stated, saving Shirou from what would be an very awkward and time-consuming situation that was guaranteed to be laden with questions. If Erica was at all like Tohsaka, then Shirou would have an avalanche of questions and accusations laid on him. And he did not want another session after 3 hours with the principal. So Shirou ran up behind Paolo. Whispering that he was sorry that he was leaving without answering.

With that, the duo left Jounan Academy.

* * *

**[Location: Jounan Academy- A while after Paolo left with Shirou]**

"Erica, were those people you know?" Godou walked up to her from the left.

"Yes...That was my uncle, believe it or not. The current head of the Copper-Black Cross. I don't know what he was doing here though. Knowing him, he was probably setting something up." Erica sighed. She had no idea he was even in Japan. Why would the chief be here? He could just send a lackey to do his work.

"Hm...then was that red haired boy also from Copper-Black Cross or wherever you came from? He certainly seemed like the type. He had this aura around him, kind of like your aura but yet it was very different." Godou put a hand to his chin in the standard thinking posture. Despite not knowing much about magic or even the age of gods in general, he is a campione and thus could sense other powers even if only slightly.

"No...I have never seen him before. Either he is new, or an acquaintance of my father's." Erica was feeling a bit down that even though she was the Diavolo Rosso, her dad still had more authority than her and thus she could not know everything about his business.

What was most frustrating was the fact that the boy looked about the same age as her and yet, his magical power completely overshadowed hers. Hell, it even overshadowed her father's. And the senior Blandelli is one of the most powerful magical entities in the world! Not counting divines of course. She wanted to fight him. An extremely powerful entity that wasn't even classified as a Campione! For once, ignorance is NOT bliss, rather it is frustration.

"Now, back to business. Kusanagi Godou, I hope that you will immediately come with me to Italy. I need your help. It will probably be difficult for me to settle this matter with my power alone, so please consider this earnestly. I, Erica Blandelli, swear upon my honor that I have not lied to you. Why do you think I specifically came to pick you up? I knew for sure that if I didn't do this, then you wouldn't come." Exclaimed Erica with no hint of desperation despite the urgency of her desperate situation.

"Right…" Godou's shoulders sank. He was still not accustomed to her personality yet, but he did know that when Blandelli Jr. swears with her honor on the line she is not joking. It is a very serious matter.

"Great! ...Thank god I didn't need to use my trump card." Erica shouted the first part, but whispered the second part so weakly that it was barely audible.

"What? I couldn't quite catch that." Godou turned his ear at her direction in hopes of catching more sound waves.

"N-n-nothing!" Erica sputtered while turning around to hide her not-so-obvious blush. "We will leave tomorrow in the morning."

* * *

**[Location: Limo]**

"So Shirou." Paolo had set himself down on the leather seat to the left of me. "Tell me, do you know the potential that you have?" Shirou stared straight at the man. _'Does he mean magic? I guess that means he had sensed the prana leaking out from my seal. At least he doesn't suspect me of a greater power as of yet. I hope I can trust him though. He certainly does have a lot more magic than others. Probably the only ones who would be able to defeat him at full power would be other Great Knights, Campiones and gods. Probably more, but I don't have that information... yet.'_

"What do you mean?" Shirou pondered. He might not be an Archer in terms of not trusting others, but he had learned the ways of the world a bit after the Holy Grail War. One just does not come out alive from a free-for-all war without learning anything.

"I mean that you have an immense amount of magical power inside of you. So much so that it surpasses mine." He doesn't even know the half of it, literally. "I would like for you to join my organization."

Shirou narrowed his eyes. If it was an organization like the Mafia or Triads, he would be out of here in a flash. So he voiced his question without a second thought while feeding od through his body so he could reinforce immediately should the need arise. "What kind of organization."

He saw my expression when he had mentioned an organization, Paolo knew that he had to phrase the next sentence properly otherwise they would lose the recruit of the year. So he stated the core of the Code of Chivalry. "Our organization, The Copper-Black Cross, is a magicians' organization located in Italy that works to protect. We protect lives, records, or anything of value to us. We are the one of the most powerful descendants of the Knights of Templar. We also have an alliance with 2 of the 7 Campiones."

Shirou's mind began running through all the scenarios that could potentially happen should he join or not join. Primarily, he would have the backing of one of the most powerful organizations in the magic world. Secondly, he would have much more access to uncommon knowledge due to it being an magical organization. This was a source of information that he was looking for! Thirdly, he could get closer to the other Campiones. One of them was most probably Godou Kusanagi.

On the other hand, The Copper Black Cross would gain yet another of the Campione's alliance, even if they did not realize it yet. That in itself was a very valuable thing. Was it worth it?

"Blandelli-san, your organization sounds like a decent group. But I wish to make a request. Should you accept I will join the Copper-Black Cross." Shirou stated with finality. He would be making the decisions here. It made it so that he wouldn't be manipulated by any major power. Shirou had had enough manipulation in the Holy Grail War. It isn't pleasant at all to know that you're being puppeted.

They passed the rest of the time in the limo heading for the airport. They had a flight to catch if they were to make it to Italy.

* * *

**(Timeskip: Many hours.) [Location: Italy]**

Shirou stepped out of the private jet. It is a great wonder that he could travel between countries without even having an ID or passport! After thinking about it during the flight, Shirou just summed it up into being one of the benefits of being a Commander-in-Chief of the Copper-Black Cross. They just had so much power to use and abuse. It made a good impression on Shirou that they didn't abuse that power muc-more than necessary.

The jet was a bit of a stretch though. It was completely lavish with ornaments and sparkly decorations all over. Shirou had sat on the couch that replaced the usual cramped seats. During the duration of the trip from Japan to Italy, they had 2 meals. Both of which were extremely extravagant. Filet Mignon, Sashimi, and they even had Caviar. It was certainly a novel experience to Shirou. Although it won't be new for long given his Authority: the [Gate] He could just buy that kind of food whenever, but he wasn't a glutton. And he also liked to cook his own food.

Paolo stepped out first. He was greeted by a vast amount of servants and security guards. The servants provided a guarded aisle to the white limo that was parked at the end of the runway. Paolo looked composed as if this happened regularly. It probably did, since he IS the most powerful person of a very powerful organization.

We walked into the limo and immediately sped toward the Copper-Black Cross headquarters in Milan.

* * *

**(Timeskip)[Location: Copper-Black Cross Headquarters]**

A chauffeur opened the door to the limo. Paolo stepped out first followed by Shirou. The many maids and other knights all bowed to Paolo's thus making it very awkward for Shirou. The Blandelli senior led the two into the building.

It was magnificent. The outside of the building looked much more modern than Shirou thought it would be. He had though that it would be an older and much more traditional Italian architecture style._ 'Oh well, I guess time consumes and changes all.'_

The inside was more to Shirou's expectations. It looked a bit oriental and had a somewhat gloomy feeling to the room due to the low lighting. There was many chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that had actual candles. Not the imitation candle light bulbs. They were on a soft red woolen carpet. There was also a massive cross-like flag on the far wall. _'It must be the Copper-Black Cross's flag.' _Concluded Shirou.

As Paolo led them straight through the entrance of the building, Shirou took this chance to observe with more detail the surroundings. He had accepted Blandelli's offer to join the organization and had also observed that this is probably one of the safest places in Italy, but it never hurt to be too careful about surroundings. The entire time, Shirou would flinch at random intervals due to some loud sound or another. You might say he is being overly paranoid.

They had passed through many areas. They walked passed the training rooms, the living quarters, and even the center of the organization. They had many things going on at once in this place.

They had finally reached the end of the hallway on the 8th floor. Paolo had probably led them along a longer route to his office because the building did not feel that big to Shirou. Paolo motioned for Shirou to sit down on a chair in the dimmed room. He did so.

Paolo walked around the mahogany desk and sat down as well. They stared at each other for a bit. Shirou was starting to feel awkward. Then Paolo broke the silence.

"So, You requested an accelerated knight training, Emiya-san?" Paolo stated.

Shirou had seen the other recruits and knights of this place train, and to be honest, Shirou thought that they were weak. He could barely "smell" any magic from them. His conclusion: to become a knight for its benefits since it wasn't hard for him to do so. Its not like they can even compare to the might of a Campione, even if his abilities were severely toned down my magic artifacts.

"Yes, Blandelli-san. I stated that I would join if you would allow me into an accelerated knight training course. And I won't break a deal after I make it. The question is, now, if you would accept my conditions." Shirou spoke as formally as possible. He briefly thanked Tohsaka for her proud attitude.

"Why would you want to take the training Emiya? What rush are you in? Wouldn't you rather take the path that all other Knights go through? What I am asking is simple, What is your goal?" Paolo looked directly at Shirou's eyes as if to stare at his very soul. Quite intimidating really.

Shirou had to think about this carefully. He still was not sure that Paolo would even allow this. Hell, Shirou hadn't even known that there was an accelerated course, he had just requested the lowest rank that would let him access to most of the files that they had. Paolo had stated that a Knight class had clearance to most of the material. As a result, Shirou had requested the fastest possible way to get to that class, that is, IF he had the necessary skills to do so. Shirou might as well tell him his goals. With that Shirou told him his ideals that, though were borrowed, he still followed to this day.

"That is a very honorable cause that you fight for...Very well. I accept your conditions. It is a pleasure to meet you Emiya Shirou, I expect great things from you." Blandelli added with a smile. "You may be excused now, I will have a maid help you to your room."

As if on cue, a maid stepped in from behind Shirou's chair. She had a nice face and an attractive body. She had black hair that framed her face and also went down to her back. Four gold clips helped shape her hair. The maid had deep blue eyes that radiated a sense of joviality and playfulness.

"Sir Emiya, if you would so kindly come with me so that I may show you to your room for the moment?"

The maid said with a small smile.

Shirou got up and followed after the maid. They walked into a pretty decent suite type room. Shirou pondered how much this costs them to maintain. It had imitation paintings on the wall that had a light blue tint. The room had a small kitchen at the back and a king sized bed in the bedroom.

Before Shirou could do anymore exploring of his new room, the maid giggled. "Sir Emiya. If you would please tell me if you have any other questions?"

"Oh..Oh!" That broke Shirou out of admiring the room he was given. "I am sorry for taking up your time…uh..."

"Arianna, Arianna Hayama Arialdi." She assisted.

"Thanks. I'm sorry for taking up your time, Arianna. If you would let me make it up to you, I could cook you some dinner. Its pretty late and I don't know if you've eaten or not…" Shirou sheepishly scratched his head.

"Oh Shirou. I didn't know you would hit on girls on your first day here." She said sultrily. Seeing the desired effects of having succeeded in making Shirou's face light up red, she consoled him. "Hahaha, that was just a joke. I'd love to join you for dinner though! Oh! I'll help you set up the table! And also, call me Anna. All my friends call me Anna." Arianna giggled happily and ran in to set up the table.

Shirou could only stand at the door not comprehending what had just happened until he heard the clanking of plates being placed on the table. Shirou could only chuckle to himself and smile.

The two talked late into the night.

Shirou talked easily about what he was doing before his recruitment and how he had met Blandelli at Jounan Academy. Shirou was told that apparently no one, even in the Copper-Black Cross, knew what the chief was doing in Japan.

Anna told Shirou how she was the maid of Erica Blandelli. It brought on an interesting conversation in which Shirou learned a lot about the blond that he had seen at Jounan Academy.

Looks like he had made his first human friend in this world. Its a good start.

* * *

**[Location: Shirou's Living Quarters]**

That next morning, Shirou woke up on the floor of the dining room to find that they had partied well into the night. The kitchen was a mess. It looked like they had gotten drunk and messed the place up, because there were things everywhere. Shirou then noticed the dark elongated bottles that rested upon the table.

'_Are those empty wine bottles?!'_

"What the..!"Shirou voiced his surprise out loud.

"mmmmmmm…" A sound coming from the bedroom interrupted his yell.

Standing up, Shirou walked slowly and quietly towards his bedroom door. He pulled it slightly open, hoping that he had not heard what he thought it was. Sure enough, there lying on his bed, was a mound with black hair poking out one end. It was Arianna. Damn his luck.

Resisting the urge to facepalm at the ridiculousness of the situation, Shirou knocked on the door twice. The knocks woke Arianna up from her slumber.

Her eyelids blinked open and fluttered for a bit. Then she yawned and stretched under the covers. While this was going on, Shirou could only turn around, face away and wait for her to be finished. It was impolite to look at a girl when she was sleeping after all, and Shirou would not be accused of perversion after just one day of meeting her. There was a lot of shuffling going on behind Shirou. But it stopped soon afterwards.

"Um Sir Emiya? I...I'm sorry!" Shirou turned around to see that she was bowing. Shirou would have none of that though.

"Anna! Don't bow please! We are friends! Besides what would you need to apologize for?" Shirou tried to convince her.

"I took your bed...without asking. I am so ashamed of myself." Arianna sported a solemn look on her face.

Shirou had no idea what to do.

He was starting to panic. Thus he decided to say whatever he could to cheer her up. "Nono, I am happy that you took my bed. In fact you could sleep there anytime you want!"

Shirou really did not think it through. Anna began to sport a healthy blush after he said that sentence. Shirou looked on for a couple seconds until, he too, realized the implications of what he said.

"I'm sorry! That came out wrong!" This time it was Shirou's turn to say sorry. Both of them stayed like that in silence, with Shirou looking devastated and Anna holding her cheeks in her feeble attempt to hide her blush.

They both started to laugh at their comical situation. That is, until they realized what time it was.

"OH NO, I'm late!" They both shouted in unison.

* * *

**[Location: Copper-Black Cross Arena]**

There, in a massive circular dirt covered field, armored men stood waiting. Waiting for what, you ask? They were waiting for the new recruit that Chief Blandelli had recommended. It was 20 minutes past the requested time and the knights that were to oversee the test were growing impatient. At least the younger knights were getting impatient, the older ones just sat there looking absolutely dignified with their swords in hand.

All of them were waiting on one person, the rumored Emiya Shirou, who had acquired the former Diavollo Rosso's recognition. A recognition that many in the organization aspired to get, and yet this newcomer acquired it just after joining! It was absolutely preposterous.

Many of them were imagining what kind of person that the Chief would recommend for this extremely torturous accelerated training. Some imagined a very strong, very muscular man. Some imagined a very dignified scholar who had as much talent in the magics as in swordsmanship. Because of these delusions, none were ready for what the truth was.

* * *

Running down the halls was one Shirou Emiya. He crashed through the double doors to the arena to come face to face with over 50 knights. Most were renowned as being very strong. There was even one great knight leaning on the wall at the back. Shirou remembered his name to be Genaro Gantz, one of the strongest in this organization. Though Great Knights would lose to those of Paladin class, they were still figures of immense authority.

"Haha...I am sorry I'm late…" Shirou scratched the back of his head for no particular reason. All the knights looked at Shirou. Then in unison, they closed their eyes, and wiped their previous visions of Emiya Shirou away. Surprise of the century.

"Alright, now that you are here, we can finally start." A blond haired knight stepped forward. "We will start with gauging your magic capacity. After that we will test your swordsmanship. Do you have any swords?"

Shirou stepped forward with a smirk on his face. _'This is going to be easier than I thought.'_

* * *

**(Meanwhile with Erica)**

Erica and Godou had just left the airport. They were looking for Erica's maid, Arianna.

"Hm...She should be here by now. Oh well, Godou carry the luggage, we will head out to look for her." Erica brushed her hair back while walking towards the exit.

"Ughh….Why do I need to carry all of this? It's mostly yours!" Godou complained with a passion.

Erica turned around. "You would let a woman carry her own stuff? No, I know you aren't that kind of man, Godou. You are very chivalrous and would do your best to assist a lady." Erica added that last part with a smile.

Godou was about to refute, but had stopped since he had learned from past discussions that Erica always won. Always.

With a grunt, Godou lifted their luggage onto a cart: 5 suitcases in total. 4 of which, were Erica's. Seriously, why do girls even need to bring so much stuff? It was as heavy as an elephant. What does she even put in there?

Dragging the cart through the airport, Godou finally caught up with Erica. They stopped at the edge of the street. Erica seemed to be waiting for something.

Sure enough, screeches could be heard down the street. It was coming closer. A red BMW drov-skidded to a halt right in front of us.

"I'm sooooo sorryyyyy I'm late Erica-chan!" The maid appeared yelling.

"It's ok, Arianna." Erica swatted it off casually. "I would like you to meet Godou Kusanagi."

"Hello Mr. Kusanagi!" Arianna recovered rather quickly from her sorrowful state from earlier. "I am Erica's maid, Arianna Hayama Arialdi."

"Um..hello Ms. Arianna.." Godou said nervously. Arianna laughed heartily at Godou's shy politeness.

"Alright thats enough. We should head to headquarters now. Arianna if you would so please."

At that, Godou paled. They had just seen what Arianna's driving was like, and Erica still let her drive?!

'_Perhaps it isn't as bad as it looked'_

* * *

**(Timeskip: After the ride…)**

Godou touched down on the ground sweating profusely.

"That was the scariest experience I have ever had. I think….no, I KNOW I have car trauma now." Godou looked absolutely terrified of the cars that were passing by.

She walked up till she was right behind him, whispering into his ear. "Relax Godou. A Campione should not be afraid of such trifle objects. Even so, I would not let anything harm you. " Erica stated as if it were a fact.

"Ok...Stop calling me a Campione. What if Ms. Arianna overhears? I thought you didn't want to tell her yet. So please call me by my name, Godou." Godou sighed. He had only first met Erica a couple of days ago and she was already calling herself his sword and shield. It was a very drastic change. One that Godou was just not ready for. He just wanted to be normal!

"What is there to misunderstand? You are a Campione, and I, as a Knight and Diavolo Rosso, am your sword and shield." She put a hand on her waist and stared pointedly at Godou.

"Great..., but could you please tell me why am I here? You only said you needed help, you didn't specify anything at all! I could be in Japan studying for the exams next week..." His shoulders sagged and his head dropped. Godou complains, but he is not actually mad at Erica. He just could not become angry for some reason or another at her. Despite his dislike for all things magical, he could not bring himself to get angry at the person who could be called the sole reason for his current involvement.

Erica simply looked at him. "Godou, please. I swore on my honor that this is a big deal. Its something that I can't handle, even with my status, alone."

His complaining was useless. He was already in Italy, so he might as well follow through with this.

Fixing his posture, Godou starts to follow after Erica into Copper-Black Cross headquarters.

Godou followed after Erica into the building.

**End Chapter 3**

* * *

**Shirou's First Authority:**

**Gilgamesh's [Gate of Babylon: King's Treasury] (Acquired in Chapter 1) NO Chains of Enkidu. That is a different Authority. Ea is also another authority. The [Gate] is not empty though. It has every single treasure that Gilgamesh had. **

**PROS:  
**-Having a full access to every treasure in the World gives Shirou an ability to copy them fully, because he has a full detailed Blueprint in his head. Each item that Shirou will Trace, and which and if its original stored in the [Gate], won't receive a reduction in Rank.

-Shirou has access to every Treasure in the world, and he only need to know a slight bit about it to gain information from the [Gate] about it, giving him almost limitless knowledge of artifacts and treasures in his Authority.

-Opening the [Gate] and accessing the Treasure costs very little Prana(1 Unit each). However, Shirou doesn't need to supply Prana to keep the Treasure in the outside world.

-Being basically a personal dimension, [Gate] can accept new Treasures. Placing a new item inside will bond it to the [Gate] and it will be restored to its condition at its prime.  
**  
CONS:  
**-When Treasure receive any kind of damage it can't be called out from the [Gate] after being returned there, until fully restored. The time needed to restore the Treasure proportionally to the amount of damage and the power of the Treasure and inversely to the amount of Prana that can be use for restoration. The minimal amount of Prana for restoration will be automatically drained from the user. Small scratches, dents and dirt will be restored in seconds, or even less, while a fully broken weapon can take hours or even days to be restored.

-Treasures won't come back to the [Gate] automatically so Shirou will need to command them to do so. This leaves the chance of leaving something behind, even if unintentionally.

**Credits to Zaralann. I don't know what I would've done without his help with this. xD He did like 99.99% of the work for this revised [Gate] **

* * *

BTW Anna might or might not be in his harem/pairing. I was just trying to set up a friendly atmosphere for now. And considering Anna's personality...this is totally possible. This chapter was bsically just a set up for future events. It ws also kind of a cool down chapter since the first 2 chapters were battles so this is like mellow...er

KK thanks for reading! Dont forget to drop any questions or anything in the revieews! xD

Seeya next time!


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